The senior defender proved to be the soccer equivalent of a shutdown corner in football, erasing every Wheaton North attempt to get something going on their left wing.

The Vikings needed every bit of that effort during a scoreless first half in which both defenses threw a wet blanket on the respective offenses.

Then Hartsock, who had made several overlap runs in the first half, broke the ice by scoring his first goal since his freshman year on the first shot of the second half.

That ignited the visiting Vikings, who dominated the action the rest of the way en route to a 2-0 road victory at Rexilius Field.

Senior midfielder Nick Dispensa also scored for Geneva (5-1-1), which outshot the Falcons 18-2 thanks to an aggressive midfield and opportunistic outside backs who put relentless pressure on the host squad.

“(We) are committed to how we want to press, and I give it all to the boys in that sense,” Geneva first-year coach Jason Bhatta said. “They bought in, and they see the results we can get if we work that hard and when we work together.

“Just the sheer amount of pressing we’ve done, we get opportunities. We force teams into mistakes, and we try to capitalize on those.

“I think we should have had a couple more (goals), but we’ll take the one off the shoulder, and we got a good finish out of Josh. The good times keep rolling.”

Indeed, the Vikings continued their impressive turnaround season. Nobody deserved Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors more than Hartsock, who was a difference-maker even before he scored.

Hartsock continually frustrated Wheaton North forward Jack Morrissey, who got to numerous balls in space in the left corner. But every time he tried to do something with it, Hartsock either stole the ball or forced a pass near the top of the box, where Geneva’s center backs were waiting to force the play out of trouble.

“Something we’re working on is the speed of Jack and Joe (Gaither) getting the ball on the outside and getting something quicker, but it’s a process,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “It takes time and what they’re doing this year is light years ahead of what they did last year. It’s still early in the season.”

True, but the frustration is starting to build for the Falcons (1-4-2), who have been shut out in five-straight games. Geneva goalie Jeffrey Bode did not have to make a save in this one.

“I thought we were pretty evenly matched,” Wheaton North goalie Harrison Thompson said. “We just fell apart twice and that cost us. We need to find our groove and get some shots going and score some goals.

“We’ve been playing against a lot of good defenses but mainly we just need more shots. We’ve just got to keep it two-touch and don’t carry the ball because that’s when those great defenses come and steal the ball away from us.”

Wheaton North’s defense did much the same in the first half, allowing only four shots. But it was a different story after intermission.

Geneva’s Ivan Vilchis saw Hartsock making an overlap run up the right wing and fed him a perfect pass in stride.

Hartsock rushed into the box under pressure and fired a shot that just got inside the left post with 37:55 remaining. The play impressed Thompson, who had the near post closed off.“It was a great shot on the outside,” Thompson said. “It just happened really fast. Hats off to him; it was a great finish.”

Hartsock tipped his proverbial cap to a teammate.

“First of all, that was a beautiful ball by our outside back, Ivan Vilchis, just with the recognition,” Hartsock said. “When two defenders split wide, he saw that ball and slotted me in, so that couldn’t have happened without him.

“I just took a look up at the keeper and saw he was at his near post. I wound it up and looked for the far post, and I looked up and it was in the back of the net. It was tough.”

As was Hartsock’s role in Geneva’s game plan.

“I told him to get a little tighter (defensively) at halftime,” Bhatta said. “They were technically sound so they were able to ping the ball around, and I said we’ve got to shorten those gaps.

“I told our outside backs we don’t want anything to their wingers’ feet, so I told them to step up a little more, and Josh did a great job.

“That’s a lot of work to be running those lines back and forth. He got rewarded for it with a goal.”

The Vikings got a little lucky on their second goal, which came with 17:02 left. Eric Anderson’s 45-yard free kick into the box found Dispensa, who knocked the ball into the net with his shoulder.

“That was a great ball by Eric,” Dispensa said. “It went off my right shoulder.

“I was just trying to get any contact. Honestly it came right to me, but it was below my head, so anything I could get on it to get it toward the goal.”

The Vikings got plenty of cracks at the goal in the second half but Thompson kept the Falcons in contention with his brilliant play. The senior made five of his seven saves after the break, including point-blank denials on Anderson and Vilchis.

“I felt like that was a pretty good game for me,” Thompson said. “But it doesn’t feel like a great game because we lost.”

That wasn’t Thompson’s fault.

“It’s an 80-minute game, and we just couldn’t keep it up for 80 minutes,” Stassen said. “Our issue is we make a mistake, and we’re playing against teams that capitalize on mistakes very quickly.

“We couldn’t really create much up-top, and our goalkeeper got peppered with 15 shots. He made some nifty saves and a few of them he shouldn’t have even made.

“But first half we played real well. Unfortunately we made a mistake, and they capitalized. We never really bounced back from that.”

Indeed, Hartsock’s goal changed the complexion of the match.

“I think that really lit a fire in us,” Hartsock said. “Our center mids really started dominating like they know how to do.

“They started pinging it around their midfield, and we were able to access our wingers and our outside backs and get up the field.”

The Vikings are on the rise. Their only loss came to no. 4 Morton and they tied no. 22 St. Ignatius. The victories include a road win at then no. 22 Wheaton Academy. Geneva is just three wins shy of matching their 2016 total.

“One thing I see this year as compared to last year is we’re playing so much better as a team,” Dispensa said. “Last year it was more individual.

“This year we’re pinging it around more, like Josh said, and we’re working together and communicating and bonding better. It’s showing in the results.”Starting lineups